


who would have thought?

by godjaesung (anklusmos)



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Misunderstandings, Recreational Drug Use, SUPER light sprinkle of angst lol, i can't think of any other tags that wouldnt spoil it, kinda slow burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:34:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23785588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anklusmos/pseuds/godjaesung
Summary: lee jeno gets on surprisingly well with his mysterious, enigmatic dorm room neighbour mark lee
Relationships: Lee Jeno/Mark Lee, renhyuck if u squint, side Na Jaemin/Park Jisung
Comments: 6
Kudos: 89
Collections: JenoZine Volume 2





	who would have thought?

“Hyung!” 

No one in the cramped, overflowing and overpopulated apartment building flinched at the yells of joy coming from the concrete courtyard. 

“Stop it! You know I  _ hate _ getting tickled!” Lee Jeno squealed as he tried fighting his best friend and neighbour, Minhyung. Despite the age gap they were thick as thieves, one would always be at the others apartment, the only time they were seperated was during school hours. 

“Your reaction is too funny for me to stop.” Minhyung laughed as Jeno tried to pin him down. Eventually, Minhyung jumped off Jeno and held his hand out. Jeno grasped on before pulling him back down, claiming tickle fight victory.

“Hey! No fair!” Minhyung gasped for air between his chuckles.

Eventually, Jeno’s mother called them in for lunch, their favourite korean beef soup

“What’s your new room like, hyung?”

“It’s huge,” Minhyung started as he slurped at his lunch. “It’s bigger than my room right now, I don’t have to share it with Johnny hyung anymore.”

“Thank god.” Jeno laughed “We can play Overwatch in peace.” Minhyung hummed in agreement and continued to sip serenely at his soup. 

“I’m gonna miss you.” Jeno mumbled. Minhyung looked up at him in confusion 

“You’re being over dramatic Jen, I’m 20 minutes away.” 

“We won’t be in the same school anymore.”

“Thank God, I was getting sick of you anyway.” 

Minhyung got up to put his dishes in the sink, Jeno followed shortly after. They began to wash up. “It won’t be the same.”

“Just think of it this way, instead of having Johnny hyungs critical ass interrupting us while we play, we finally have some peace and quiet.” Minhyung dried the dishes as Jeno washed, just as they’ve been doing for years. “Dude, imagine all the  _ forts _ we’re going to build without that asshole trying to crash.”

Jeno smiled at his attempts to make him feel better.”Your brother is an asshole sometimes, isn’t he.” He turned the tap off and grabbed the dish cloth from Minhyung’s hands. “I can see where you get it from.”

“Hey!”

**********

Jeno’s worst nightmare was coming true. Minhyung had always reassured him it won’t happen, he was being irrational, that he would  _ always _ be there for Jeno, and they would  _ always _ be best friends. To put it simply, they were drifting apart. Jeno knew it happened all the time, people grow up and move on, but this couldn’t be happening. Not with him. He’d sent Minhyung countless texts, asking how his day had been or just straight up asking why he was ghosting him. The party invites were left unopened. His call log was filled up with rejection. 

Today, he decided to confront Minhyung, there’s no way he could avoid him at his house right? Jeno’s surprised he remembered the way since he hadn’t been here since they moved in and he helped decorate his room. He tentatively knocked on the door, and was greeted by Minhyung’s older brother. Johnny welcomed him with open arms, immediately asking hundreds of questions about school, friends and life in general. Johnny eventually ushered him up to Minhyung’s room. 

“I kinda miss you Jeno, come over more okay?” Jeno tried to give the warmest smile he could. He was left alone in the quiet corridor, the only noises were coming from the other side of the door. Ah, he could hear Minghyung playing their favourite game. He rapped his knuckles against the door, and waited for the muffled “Come in!”. Jeno stepped into the room, and it looked exactly how he had decorated it, but… Different. There were a lot of photos of Minhyung’s new friends scattered around the room, it looked like he was building a collage on one of the walls. Jeno’s chest felt the knot in his chest tighten as he scanned the wall, realising that he wasn’t there. Minhyung spun around, expecting his older brother but being met with his old best friend. 

“Oh.” He shifted and sat up in his chair. “Hi Jeno.” The air in the room was more than awkward.

“Hey hyung. Long time no see.” Jeno was still standing by the doorframe, waiting to be invited in. Minhyung didn’t do that. 

“What… What are you doing here.” 

“I haven’t seen or spoken to you in awhile.” Jeno shrugged. Mark stared at him in confusion. 

“Uh… Is everything okay?”

Jeno sighed for the millionth time that day. “Everything is great, hyung.” Silence filled the room, it wasn’t the comfortable kind they were used to, but toxic and stifling. It felt like poison filling the room. 

“It clearly isn’t.” Jeno felt the heat rise to his ears and the blood rush to his head. As much as he adored Minhyung, he really was the dumbest, most oblivious bitch to exist.

“You’re right hyung. Why have you been ignoring me?” Mark raised a brow at him in genuine confusion

“I haven’t been ignoring you.”

“Yes you have!” Jeno hissed. “You’ve ignored all my calls, texts, you haven’t even opened my fucking party invites.”

“You’re getting mad at me because I won’t play video games with you?” Minhyung sounded so patronising. Deep down Jeno knew he didn’t mean it like that, but he was so  _ blinded _ by his frustration and anger.

“It’s deeper than that hyung!” He huffed. “I miss you, so  _ fucking  _ much. And it feels like you don't give a shit about me anymore.”

Minhyung's frown deepened. “Jeno, you're my best friend, you know that’s not true.” 

“Sounds fake, but okay.”

The tension was so thick, you could cut it with a butterknife. 

“Jeno-”

“No.” Jeno had never cut Minhyung off before, he was always raised to respect his elders, but his temper had free reign over his mouth. “You don’t want to talk? Fine. Goodbye hyung, and fuck you.”

**********

This was fine. This was fine. This was fine. 

Jeno kept this mantra going as he slowly unpacked his meagre belongings into his new, old fashioned dorm room. He was lucky he managed to bag a single room with an en suite, so there was no room mate to worry about pissing off when he wanted to play Overwatch with no headset on at 3am. After he had covered the worryingly stained mattress with his bedsheets he took a seat to fully observe his new home. The ceiling was cracked, now he was worried about his neighbours falling on him in his sleep, the walls were a nasty grey, obviously a budget colour, and stained with blue tack from the previous resident. The carpet was brown, it looked like it was meant to be cream but age and decay had gotten to it. Yup. This was fine. 

“Stop  _ pouting _ Jeno.” Na Jaemin’s deep voice had cut through his train of thoughts. Jeno did not stop pouting. 

“If you weren’t moving in with your stupid gross boyfriend I wouldn’t be in this situation.”

Jaemin laughed. “Jisung is not stupid or gross you love him.”

“He’s still stupid and gross for taking my best friends and roommate away from me.”

Jaemin rolled his eyes, “You’re being overdramatic Jen. This place isn’t so bad!” He plopped himself onto the bed next to Jeno, and it released a worrying squeak. Jaemin winced, “Besides, you’re always welcome to come over whenever you want.” 

Jeno smiled at Jaemin’s sweet offer, despite only meeting in their freshman year of college, Jaemin truly was the platonic soulmate he never knew he needed. He was ecstatic to hear Jaemin and Jisung were taking the next step in their relationship, but by God did he hate change.

“Thank you, Nana. For helping me today, and I’m sorry for calling Jisung gross and stupid.”

“It’s okay, God knows he can be gross and stupid sometimes.” Jaemin pulled open the ancient wardrobe and began wiping the dust away. “Besides, one day you might meet someone that I think is gross and stupid.” He threw the cloth on to the floor and began unpacking Jeno’s clothes. “Like one of your neighbours.” He smirked.

Jeno let out a short laugh. “This accommodation hall is so old, literally  _ no one _ is here!”

“Then the hot neighbour I saw must have been a ghost.”

“You have a boyfriend…” 

“So? I’m cuffed Jeno, not blind. Besides, Jisung would agree with me if he saw this dude.”

Jeno rolled his eyes for the millionth time, time would tell if there really was another (hot) resident in these derelict halls.

**********

**_00 liners_ ** **_🤩🤩_ **

_ maybe jaemins betrayal can be Forgiven _

_ what  _

**_when did i betray you???_ **

when you moved in with jisung dumbass 

_ renjun gets it  _

_ my man is so big brain  _

**_NO PDA IN THIS GC_ **

_ anyway!!!!!!!!  _

_ jaemin thought he saw a hot ghost when i moved in here  _

_ hes not a ghost  _

_ he’s lives in the room next to me _

**_KFJS WORM???_ **

_ what i want a hot ghost bf  _

_ HYUCK LMFAOOOOO _

what am i??? CHOPPED LIVER????

_ 🥰🥰 _

_ his name is mark _

_ he’s a 4th year majoring in audio engineering and minoring in production _

_ he lived here as a kid, moved to canada, came back _

_ he’s,,, wow _

_ i _

_ Im _

_ [REST] _

**_hot ghost boy broke my bff :///_ **

_ he’s meditating  _

he’s died lmao 

_ the Lack Of Support from yall Disgusts me _

**_did you get his #_ **

_ or twt @ _

or any of his sns

_ no wtf we just met nd were neighbours thats weird _

_ he kinda looks familiar but i cant put my finger on it _

does he have a last name

_ lee i think? _

Noted :)

_ donghyuck stop whatever ur bf is planning _

_ nah its kinda hot  _

_ not a day goes by that i dont hate being in this gc  _

**_anyway jen!!! make a move on ur hot ghost neighbour_ **

**_that’s too long to type_ **

**_hgn_ **

**_do it b4 i do ;)))_ **

_ i hate yall _ ****

********

“Fuck!” Jeno swore so loudly it echoed down the empty corridor. He’d been living here for about two weeks now, and it was going okay. The water pressure was a joke but having a near empty resident hall had its perks. At least he could keep food in the community kitchen and not worry about it getting stolen, and no one was obnoxiously loud at 4am. Today however, was just not his day. First, he’d left all of his reading and seminar notes in his room, so he looked like an unprepared fool in a 3 hour discussion, he was late to the dance studio and was thrown into choreographing a new piece, and now he’s left his keys in his room. Renjun had his spare pair, but was in Jilin visiting family with Donghyuck. Jaemin had another, but he was in Jeju with Jisung. Neither would be returning until tomorrow afternoon. Fuck. Where was he meant to stay? He slumped to the floor and leaned back against his door in defeat. He cupped his hands over his face and felt the tears slowly roll down his cheeks.

“Is everything okay out there?” A voice called out. 

Jeno's head snapped up and he glanced to his left, and there his hot neighbour was in all his glory. His black hair was messy, his red shirt was loose and baggy, and his glasses were perched perfectly on his nose. Jeno was in awe of Mark Lee, after he’d stalked his socials (courtesy of Renjun) he’d learnt his neighbour was literally… Unreal. Good looking, a talented musician, and surprisingly skilled rapper. And he’d just caught Jeno on the verge of a nervous breakdown. 

“Um. Yeah.” Jeno mumbled and wiped his nose with his sleeve. “Today just hasn’t gone very well.”

Mark hummed. “Everyone has one of those days.” He propped his door open with a spiderman doorstop and walked over to sit next to Jeno. He sat upright and cross legged against the wall. “I know we don’t know each other but… Do you want to talk about it?”

Jeno has literally never spoken more than 6 words to Mark Lee, and they were all greetings. But something about his calm aura and wide sparkling eyes compelled Jeno to spill his heart and soul out to him. 

“I’m just being over dramatic.” He sniffed. “Things have been really stressful lately and today’s tragedies were like… The straw that broke the camel’s back.” Mark nodded, like an invitation to continue. “Honestly, I just wanted to go to bed and cry quietly into my pillow but I’ve locked myself out and now I’m crying in the corridor, so…”

They sat in comfortable silence for a few beats before Mark opened his mouth. “It really do be like that sometimes.” If it had come from one of his asshole friends like Donghyuck or Chenle, he would have punched their mouth, but coming from Mark it was lighthearted, Jeno knew he sympathised. “Really though, it’s good you’ve got it out of your system, albeit in a public way-” Jeno laughed quietly, “Everyone goes through things like this, and you shouldn’t feel bad or anything y’know? Don’t feel like you have to suffer in silence, I’m sure you have plenty of friends to lean on, hm?” Jeno nodded as he absorbed Mark’s advice. His friends were always telling him the same thing, maybe he just needed to hear it from someone else to believe it. He nodded, raised his eyes up from the floor and looked back at Mark. There was something so… Familiar about him.

“Thank you, Mark-ssi.”

“Call me hyung,” Mark laughed. “Do you have somewhere to crash for the night?” Jeno shook his head. “Ah, you can stay with me.” 

Jeno’s eyes widened “Hyung no it’s cool I can-”

“Jeno don’t worry, you aren’t interrupting anything except a movie marathon, come on.” He got up first, dusted his grey tracksuits off and held his hand out to Jeno. He took it, Mark’s hands were strong and soft, but his fingertips were calloused, probably from playing guitar. Mark pulled him up and dragged him into his room. He let go to make room for Jeno on his bed, and Jeno has never been so sad to let go of someone’s hand. He looked around, the nasty grey walls were covered with posters, a guitar was propped up at the foot of the bed, his desk was covered in sheet music, and his wardrobe seemed to double up as a notice board. The whole room smelt of something sweet, maybe watermelon?

“Before I heard you swearing like a sailor I was binge watching Marvel movies.” Mark pushed himself up against his headboard. “Is that okay with you?” 

Mark was attractive, sweet, funny, talented and considerate. And had great taste in movies. God really does have favourites, and Mark is definitely one of them. Jeno nodded, awestruck, and Mark yanked his arm to sit on the bed. 

“You know hyung,” Jeno yawned as The Winter soldier played on Mark’s laptop screen “I think we’re going to be great friends.” 

Mark smiled “Yeah Jeno, I think we are.”

********

It was a normal Saturday night, Jeno and the rest of the gang were at Jaemin and Jisung’s new apartment. They were all scattered throughout the small living room focused on a dark Netflix documentary. Renjun and Donghyuck were cuddling on the sofa, Jaemin was on the floor with Jisung asleep in his lap, and Chenle was sharing the armchair with Jeno. 

“Jeno hyung,” Chenle whispered and tapped his arm to get his attention, Jeno hummed in response. “What’s this about you having a h-g-n?”

“A what?”

“Hot ghost neighbour.”

Jeno groaned. “Who told you?”

“Jisung,” Chenle giggled, “Jaemin hyung can’t keep his mouth shut around him, and every week we gossip about everyone we know.” Jeno sighed. The jig was up. 

“Yeah. Mark Lee, 4th year, we’ve been hanging out the past few weeks and he’s… Really fucking cool.”

Chenle hummed. “You like him, don’t you?”

“W-what!” Jeno stuttered “That’s- that’s crazy. We barely know each other.” 

“Don’t lie to me Jeno, it’s okay. I’m happy for you.” Chenle sighed. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“It’s weird talking about your current love life with your ex, Chenle.”

Chenle laughed “Okay. Fair. But we’re friends right?” Jeno nodded without hesitation “Then let me be your wingman!”

“What!”

“I know Mark hyung through other people, you guys would be  _ so cute _ together!” Chenle pouted “Please?” 

Oh no, he pulled out the big guns. He couldn’t resist Chenle’s adorable face. He sighed in defeat 

“Fine.”

_**chenluh** _

_ so like _

_ how will you be wingmanning me  _

**_issa surprise_ **

_ ur surprises were partially why we broke up _

**_ALJSDLFS HYUNG_ **

**_its nothin bad_ **

**_just a little gathering_ **

**_stereotypical college stuff_ **

_ hhhhhhh aight  _

_ are u gonna like,, get him drunk??? tf ? _

**_what ew no we want him sober and consenting_ **

**_for when u confess uwu_ **

_ what  _

**_yes !!_ **

**_you guys have never seen each other outside ur dorms_ **

**_show him the fun jeno hyung i know!!!_ **

_ but he’s died  _

_ i left him at home  _

**_hyung :///_ **

**_maybe dont confess_ **

**_at least ask him out on a proper date_ **

_ fine fine ill try  _

_ if this goes wrong istg _

  
  


Honestly, Jeno should have seen this coming. He hated these dumbass college house parties. He’d rather get drunk or high in the comfort of his room, surrounded by friends he could trust and wouldn’t care if he embarrassed himself in front of them. On nights like this, Jeno made sure he was the most sober. Someone had to keep the brain cell whilst everyone was intoxicated. They had arrived as a group, but immediately split to greet their other friends (Donghyuck), find a weed plug (Jisung and Renjun), fuck their liver up (Jaemin) or do all three (Chenle). They’d meet up again, eventually, but it was going to be a long night indeed. Jeno was currently huddled on a sofa, stuck between an acquaintance from his seminar and their best friend, nursing his can of cider and not paying any attention to the conversation. He looked around, everyone was too out of it, or too busy trying to find their hookup for the night. How did Chenle convince him to go out? He didn’t want to resort to playing games on his phone, but a PUBG match was starting to look very tempting. 

“Jeno! Hey dude!” A voice called out to him from across the room, but he recognised it in a heartbeat.

“Mark hyung, hey.” He got up and excused himself from the sofa, almost running over in relief. “Thank god you saved me.” 

“Your knight in shining armour.” Mark immediately shot back. Taken aback, Jeno didn’t know how to respond apart from laughing at his awkward attempt to flirt. 

“Really hyung? Is that the best you could come up with?” Mark scoffed and took Jeno’s wrist, leading him into the kitchen to grab more drinks. He offered a cup to Jeno, which he politely declined. Jeno pushed himself up onto the counter, using Mark’s shoulders as leverage. Mark leaned in between his legs and placed his hands on either side of Jeno’s thighs. If Jeno was sober, he’d be slightly alarmed at their position, but he was way too tipsy to care. He watched Mark drink from his clear plastic cup, the dark liquid sloshing around before he raised it to his lips and gulped it all in one go, Jeno’s eyes trailing down his throat as he carefully watched Mark’s adam's apple bob up and down. Why was that so hot?

“So, based on how that conversation was going, I’m guessing you’re having a good time?” Jeno rolled his eyes and kicked Mark’s right thigh. Mark giggled but didn’t move.

“My bitchass friends all ditched me. I’m pretty sure half of them are making out with their partners.” He took a final swig from his can before throwing it in the bin. “And Chenle, that traitor, hasn’t come back ever since he went to go talk to his dealer.” 

Mark raised his brow.”If you’re looking for a dealer, I’ve got a blunt already.” He carefully took it out of his jacket pocket along with a lighter. “Want to get out of here?” He held his hand out. Jeno knew he shouldn’t leave his friends at this houseparty, they acted like idiots without his supervision- But here was Mark Lee, his lowkey crush, offering him free weed and an interesting evening. 

“Sure.”

**_YOO! DREAM!_ **

_ Idiots pls dont do anything idiotic _

_ im going out w/ mark hyung  _

LJFSLDSJF WHAT???

_ so my plan worked huh  _

plan? what plan?

_ shut up chenle _

_ ur plan was non existent _

_ YOU DITCHED ME??? +=%=?? ==+ _

_ my plan was to get you 2 alone  _

_ and it worked  _

_ im taking credit for this one  _

chenle i don't even know what's going on but even i can tell ur chatting shit 

_ ur right jisung he is _

_ also im surprised ur not high _

lol who said i wasnt

_ are u guys gonna go,,, u know ;)  _

_ wtf no  _

he offered u w33d didn't he 

_ ,,,,,.  _

still cheap as ever lee

_ SHUT UP _

_?? but he's right tho that's literally how we met _

_ 😀🔪 _

_ anyway!! Bring the others back to my dorm when ur done _

_ ill see u guys later  _

_ stay safe _

_ use protection!!! _

  
  


Jeno slipped his phone back into his back pocket and took Mark’s outstretched hand, jumping down from the counter and letting himself get dragged through the swarm of hot bodies over to the front door, into the chilly night air. No words were spoken as they walked through the quiet suburbs, but the silence wasn’t awkward. They just enjoyed each other's company.

“We’ve been walking for 10 minutes, is this where you’re going to kill me?”

Mark barked out a laugh that echoed through the peaceful street. “Nah, even I have to admit this would be a shit place to die and haunt forever.” Jeno grinned and added yet another thing to the  _ Reasons I want to make out with Mark Lee  _ list. His strange and impeccable sense of humour. ”Don't worry, we’re almost there.” 

After a few more minutes of walking, they reached the edge of vast playing fields, with a footpath surrounding the perimeter. Mark still hadn’t let go of his hand, and tugged him along until they were sat on a bench, higher up on a slope, looking down at the greenery. 

“It’s quiet.” Jeno remarked.

“I love it.” Mark sighed in content. ”I come here a lot, when I’m trying to write songs and our dorms are just too loud.” Jeno raised an eyebrow.

“Literally no one lives in our accommodation.” 

“I know, but it’s like white noise you know?” Jeno nodded in understanding and didn’t say anything in reply. “I also come here to light up.” 

Jeno rolled his eyes and smiled brightly “Who would have thought, perfect 4th year Mark Lee, was a  _ stoner _ ?” Mark laughed as he brought the joint and lighter back out of his jacket pocket. He struggled to light the rolled paper, and Jeno had to lean in and cover the flame up from the wind. He was so close he could smell Mark’s shampoo. Finally, Mark took a deep drag before passing it to Jeno. 

“Do you believe in aliens?” Jeno nodded as he exhaled. 

“Of course I do, you’d be stupid not to.” Mark hummed and nodded in agreement. “Imagine, in a vast universe like ours, we can’t be the only successful life form. That would suck ass. Do you think we could contact them one day?” Mark shook his head enthusiastically. 

“Hell yeah. I was so tempted to major in astronomy and astrophysics just so I could say hi to them myself.”

They passed the joint back and forth, asking each other more menial and weird questions. 

“Do you have a crush on anyone?” Jeno asked. His friends always told him his filter disappeared after a few hits. 

“Yup.” Mark immediately answered. “He’s hot as fuck, an amazing dancer, super smart and he has a terrible sense of humor- but that just makes him even cuter.” Jeno felt his heart drop to his stomach. “Do you?” 

“Yeah.” 

Mark raised his brow as he inhaled. “Are you going to tell me?”

“H-he’s really nice. Scary smart. Actually laughs at my jokes. I hear him singing when I’m in my dorms sometimes.” 

Mark hummed. “Our crushes sound like they’d make a cute ass couple, don’t you think?” Jeno was still trying to get over his fresh heartbreak but Mark was just rubbing salt in the wound.

“I guess.”

“I wonder what my crush would say if I asked him out on a date.” Jeno shrugged. “That’s your cue to give me an answer, Jeno.” He looked at him in confusion. Mark giggled and blew the smoke into his face. “You fool,  _ you’re _ my crush.” Jeno blushed as he realised that Mark had described him to a T, not some random stranger.

“Oh.” Jeno fumbled with his hands, suddenly overcome with shyness. “I’d love that.” 

Mark grinned. “Great.” He handed the joint back to Jeno and told him to finish it off. “Can’t believe all it took was free weed to get you to go out with me. I should have done this months ago.” Jeno cackled as he took the last few puffs. 

“Do you want to shotgun?” Jeno asked, and Mark nodded timidly. He took one final inhale, moved closer to Mark, their lips touching and released the smoke. He could feel Mark’s breath inhaling the second hand smoke, and he pulled away to breath out. Jeno leaned back, but Mark grabbed his nape and pulled him back in. 

“Can I kiss you?” He mumbled. Maybe it was Jeno’s intoxication but he gave no response and surged forward anyway. He felt like he was floating on cloud nine, maybe it was the marijuana coursing through his blood stream, or maybe it was because of Mark Lee. It was definitely because of Mark Lee. 

“Nice.” Was all Mark said when they broke apart. Jeno pushed him over and Mark tumbled off the bench. 

“You fucking suck.”

*********** 

“I can’t believe you’re so  _ cheap  _ Lee Jeno!” Jaemin laughed incredulously. “All it took was half an ounce for you to say  _ yes? _ ” 

“That’s not true!” Jeno whisper yelled over his textbook. “If all it took was free weed to get me to go out with someone, we would have been dating for years!”

“Dude, don’t make me gag so early in the morning.” 

“He’s nice Jaem I swear, our first date was great, I think this evening is going to be even better.” 

Jaemin looked up carefully at his best friend “It’s not that I don’t believe you, I have full faith he’s a nice guy, but I just… Don’t want you to get hurt.” 

Jeno shot his best friend a soft smile. “I know, but I promise once you meet him officially you’ll love him.” 

“I already have Jisung for that thanks.” 

Jeno continued to flip through his expensive textbook. His paper was due in two days time, and he couldn’t keep his mind off anything except Mark. He scanned the page and remembered the time Mark stayed up with him to pull an all nighter. He read through the first paragraph and sighed, thinking of every time he’d force Mark out of the library to grab dinner. 

“Oh god Jaemin!” He exclaimed, grabbing not only Jaemin’s attention but the next table over. “I’m a fucking  _ simp! _ ” 

Jaemin’s cackle was not unkind. “I see why you used to clown me about Jisung. This  _ is _ fun to watch!”

“You’re so unsupportive. I genuinely can’t stand you.” Jeno huffed and continued to highlight his textbook. He did well for about 40 minutes, not having heard a peep from Jaemin and successfully ignoring his phone’s existence. He was about to start drafting the second paragraph of his paper and suddenly the empty chair his bag was in was dragged backwards, the wooden legs and rubber grips squeaked against the linoleum floor. Jeno ripped one side of his airpod out, ready to scream at Jaemin for interrupting his flow but got the shock of his life to see Mark sitting next to him. 

“Hey babe.” Mark grinned and leaned forward to close Jeno’s agape mouth. “How’s your group project going?” 

“What the fuck!” Jeno hissed as he ran a hand over his face and rubbed his eyes. “I thought you were Jaemin. You have no idea how ready I was to punch you.”

Mark giggled and Jeno’s foul mood instantly disappeared, he couldn't help the small smile forming on his face.

“That’s not how you’re supposed to treat the boy buying you dinner later.” 

Jeno scoffed and pushed Mark away. He suppressed the butterflies forming in his stomach and tried to be discreet about the blush rising on his neck.

“Shut up hyung. If you don’t leave me alone to finish this we won’t be going anywhere.” 

Mark pouted. Oh no. Jeno had to tear his eyes away from his face and stare a hole into his laptop, otherwise he would cave. 

“Fine then Jen, be like that.”

Jeno continued typing away, trying to seem as nonchalant as possible. “See you, hyung.”

Mark sighed very loudly, and very slowly got up from his seat. He tried to give Jeno one last starry eyed glance before leaning down and kissing his cheek. Jeno stopped typing mid sentence. Mark wasn’t one for PDA, even before they started… Dating. This was very new territory for the both of them. 

“I’ll pick you up at 7.” With that, Mark strolled away. 

Jaemin chose this time to come back from his bathroom break, looking extremely dishevelled and out of breath. His hair was a mess and Jeno was pretty sure he was wearing Jisung’s jumper with the hood pulled up to cover his neck.

“Who goes to piss for 20 minutes?” 

Jaemin raised a brow as a he brushed through his hair “And who gay panics so hard in the middle of the library they don’t even realise their boy took their textbook?”

********

Jeno expected to go to the quiet, fairly priced italian restaurant 15 minutes away from their dorm. He dressed as casually as possible. Ripped washed out denim jeans, a white button up and bright yellow denim jacket thrown over to cover all the creases. 

He glanced at the full length mirror on the ancient wardrobe door, giving himself a small nod of approval at his outfit (courtesy of a 40 minute FaceTime call with Renjun) before he moved over to his bed, impatiently waiting for his date. They'd hung out a million times before, but this was their second official date. Jeno thought there would be more pressure, but if anything it felt more… natural. There wasn't any fear of crossing any platonic boundaries, because it was a  _ date.  _

Finally, there was a soft rap in his door and Jeno was almost embarrassed at how fast he shot up to open it. 

The first thing Jeno noticed was Mark's hair. In the 3 hour span since he'd seen him in the library, Mark had gone from pitch black hair to pale green, almost like his head was covered in blades of grass. His eyes panned down to the heavy silver chain resting on his collar bones, the fitting black t shirt with indistinguishable writing, the tight black jeans with a leopard print stripe, and stopped at the heavy doc martens he had never seen before. The best thing about his outfit was the emerald green bomber jacket that tied everything together. 

Mark coughed to grab his attention, when their eyes met Jeno felt his mouth run dry. 

"Enjoying the view?" he smirked 

Jeno leaned forward and gave his shoulder a harmless punch

"Shut up, hyung." Jeno mumbled and banged his head against his door frame. 

Mark laughed at his melodrama and held his arm out to Jeno. 

"Ready?" 

Jeno grabbed his forearm before linking them together. He shot Mark a small smile, his eyes turning into adorable crescents. "Lead the way!" 

Mark Lee was full of surprises. 

Just when Jeno thought he had him all figured out, he goes and pulls a stunt like this. Although he should have expected something - unorthodox. Their first date was in a cat cafe after all, and almost ended in disaster after Jeno forgot to mention his severe allergies. 

So really, after the 30 minute train journey Jeno shouldn't have been surprised when they arrived in front of - 

"A laser tag arena? Seriously?" 

"Yeah," Mark nodded shyly and rubbed the back of his neck "If you're not feeling it we can like totally skip this part and like-" 

"No! Oh my god no!" Jeno laughed and hugged Mark. "Just… I haven't been here in years. And I don't think I'm dressed appropriately." 

Mark giggled and threw his head back in joy "Don't worry, only one match and we'll go eat." 

One hour and 3 matches later, Jeno came out victorious. As much as he wanted to be a gentleman and let his date win at least one match, his stubborn and competitive nature for the best of him. Besides, who doesn't want to see a sulky Mark Lee? 

"It's all that time you spend playing PUBG!" Mark whined as they left through the front doors, the cold night air immediately biting at their sweaty skin "You already have experience." 

Jeno cackled "You've never played a first person shooter, and its shows." He laced his fingers with Mark's and swung it between them. "It's not my fault you're being a sore loser." 

"You basically cheated!" 

They walked to the nearest convenience store, too exhausted to deal with the Saturday night crowds of Seoul. As promised, Mark paid for all of their snacks and junk food, before hailing a taxi back to their dorms. Marl grabbed the bags from Jeno's hands and made a beeline for his room forcing Jeno into a race to their floor. 

"You had a 10 second head start! I had to pay the driver!" 

Mark stuck his tongue out "Tough shit babe." 

Jeno walked over to the stove where Mark was boiling water for their ramen. He pushed his chest against his back and wrapped his arms around his waist 

"I love these pet names," he said softly as Mark continued to stir the noodles "They're cute." 

Jeno could feel the heat rising up Mark's neck. 

He coughed in an awkward attempt to change the topic "Um. Cool. The food is- Yeah." 

Jeno didn't let go until everything was finished cooking. 

They carefully walked down the corridor and into Mark's bedroom spreading the snacks between them on his mattress. 

"I haven't been to that place in years," Jeno mentioned casually. "The last time I went there was maybe… 5 years ago." 

"Oh snap! Me too!" Mark slurped up his soup. "I was with my childhood best friend."

Jeno laughed. "Same! He used to suck at laser tag like you." 

"Hey!" 

"And then we'd go back to my house and have a sleepover. In the morning we'd race to the park or go bother his brother at the arcade he worked at." 

"That's weird. I'd do the same thing too." 

They continued to watch on his laptop in peace. 

"Are you guys still friends?" 

Jeno shook his head. "I lost my temper once and never apologised." 

"Oh." 

"Yeah… I think it might be my greatest mistake. I lost my best friend because of my pride." 

Mark lowered his head onto Jeno's shoulder and rubbed his thigh. "What's worse, losing your best friend, or the first boy you had a crush on?" 

"I'm sorry Jeno." 

"Thank you," He leaned down to give him a light peck and pulled Mark closer. "What about you, do you still talk to him?" 

"Nah," Mark mumbled "Like you guys, we fought and I never reached out to him. Then we moved to Canada and that was it." He kept his eyes trained on the screen. "I only wanted to come back to Korea because -" he let out a dry chuckle "I thought I could find him and reconnect." 

"And have you succeeded?" 

"There are too many Lee Jeno's in Seongnam, can you imagine searching the entire country?" 

Jeno giggled,and his face dropped. "Wait. His name is Lee Jeno from Seongnam?" 

"Yeah, we lived there until we moved." 

"I'm from Seongnam, hyung." 

"Huh." 

The silence in the room seeped in, but you could hear the cogs of their brains turning, working at the speed of light. 

"Is your Korean name… Minhyung?" 

Mark stared at him blankly for eternity. 

"No, that's crazy, there's no way-" 

"It is." 

Jeno frowned "What?" 

"It is. My Korean name is Minhyung. My best friend used to call me Minhyung-" 

"Because it used to piss you off." Jeno finished for him. "But you stuck to it, because-" 

"I wanted to spite him back." Mark laughed "If I stopped getting annoyed-" 

"Then there was no point. But he was too lazy to call you Mark again-"

"And he called me Minhyung until the day we fought." 

They stared at each other in awkward silence. 

Mark coughed and cleared his throat before breaking eye contact. Jeno looked down at the back of his hands before bringing them closer to his face to pick at a cuticle. 

"I think our food has been spiked recently." 

Mark looked back up at him with a perfectly arched brow. "What?" 

"Yeah," Jeno hummed. "Instead of soy sauce, we've been dousing our rice in dumb bitch juice." 

Mark gawked at him before bursting out into a fit of giggles, his laughter becoming more contagious by the second. Soon enough Jeno joined in, both of their bodies rocking back and forth and completely overcome with joy. It took them a few minutes to calm down, Mark was completely out of breath, wiping the tears away and Jeno had a stitch. 

"Shit dude. How did it take us so long to realise?" 

"I didn't expect my childhood best friend to become a cool person, to be honest." 

Mark scoffed "I'm still older than you!"

Once again, the room was filled with awkward silence. 

"I'm sorry hyung." 

Mark glanced down at the floor. "It's okay Jeno." 

"But it's not," Jeno huffed "I literally walked out on you before you could explain yourself." 

"It was a dick move for sure, but I totally understand your reaction now." He ran his hand through Jeno's hair and fixed his glasses. "I ignored you as soon as I moved, and I promised I wouldn't. I get it Jeno, I promise I've forgiven you for it." His hands dropped back down to his lap. "And I'm sorry for ghosting you too. I was so wrapped up in fitting in at my new high school I just - abandoned you. I didn't even tell you I left Korea!"

"It's done now hyung." He pulled Mark into a hug. "I forgive you too." 

They stayed still in their embrace, neither of them were willing to pull away. 

"Look at us," Jeno mumbled into Mark's shoulder. "Who would have thought?" 

"Certainly not me." Mark chirped back. "Wait. I was your first crush?" 

"We just officially reunited after 5 years and that's your first question?" 

"But was I?" 

"We're  _ dating  _ Mark." 

"Dude we are?"

"No," He drawled. "Us making out and spending a stupid amount of time together was completely platonic." 

Mark burst out into even more laughter. "Of course it was, no homo bro." 

Jeno hummed and sat back up on his heels, placed his hands on Mark's shoulders before leaning in for a kiss. He happily reciprocated, smiling into the kiss and placing a gentle palm on Jeno's jaw before deepening the kiss. If Jeno weren't already sitting, he's sure his knees would have wobbled as soon as Mark's tongue touched the roof of his mouth. He whined when Mark pulled away. 

"As much as I love making out, can we please finish this movie?" 

"After all this time you still choose spiderman over me? Some things will never change." 

Mark pushed him away, flinging Jeno off the bed. Unfortunately Jeno refused to let go and dragged them both down. Mark was on his back, and Jeno took the opportunity to pin both his wrists down to the dusty carpet. Mark was flushed, his cheeks were like roses but he kept staring. Neither were willing to break eye contact and admit defeat. Jeno knew they were equally stubborn so he rolled his eyes and let go of Mark's hands, sitting up between Mark's legs and helping to pull him up. 

"Fine, we'll finish the stupid movie." 

Mark let out an excited squeal and jumped back on to the bed, burrowing underneath the covers making the crown of his head barely visible. Jeno gave him a soft smile before joining him. They readjusted their positions, Jeno wrapped his arms around Mark's waist and hooked his chin on to his shoulder before drifting off into sweet slumber. 

********

Jeno noticed three things when he woke up:

  * _My phone is buzzing_


  * This room is too bright for my liking 


  * Mark Lee is a blanket hogging koala. 



He decided to deal with the first thing on his list. 

**_YOO! DREAM!_ **

_ JENO  _

_ JENO  _

_ JENO YOU MOTHER FUCKER _

_ JENO ARE YOU ALIVE OR NOT/=! =! =/=! = _

jeno hyung pls respond already jaemin has been stressing all morning

ill bet yall anything he's asleep rn 

_ in marks bed ;)))  _

chenle don't be disgusting 

**idk babe he might be right**

DONGHYUCK DONT IT'LL GIVE HIM POWER __

**_the fuck is going on_ ** __

_ HE LIVES!!  _

oh good

_ LEE JENO  _

_ WHAT THE FUCK  _

_ I EXPECTED A TEXT TO SAY UR SAFE BACK IN UR DORM  _

_ AND WAS MET WITH NOTHIFN/==! =! =! =( _

**lol rip jeno**

it was nice knowing u bro 

_ ur my fav ex </3 F _

CHENLE JFJDKE

**_sorry i forgot_ **

_ YOU BETTER HAVE A GOOD ASS EXCUSE READY _

**_i can't believe im saying this_ **

**_but i have tea_ **

_ wait _ **_._ ** _ pause .  _

**jeno saying he has tea?**

this is gonna b sum good shit 

**_so like yall know about my childhood best friend i fought w and never saw again_ **

**_well_ **

**_haha_ **

**_it's mark_ **

_ what the fuck  _

the fuck 

_ THE FUCK  _

**wait what did we miss the tea**

**WHAT THE FUCK!!!**

what the actual fuck 

**_why so many f bombs_ **

**_it's not even 10am_ **

**_anyway_ **

**_i can't explain it over text ill see u guys later_ **

_ everyone at me and jisungs apartment in time for lunch _

**oop jaemin is kinda scary u kno**

it's hot 

_ GROSS JISUNG  _

**_ew yeah it's gross_ **

**_but yes bye now_ **

**_you guys made me ignore the cute boy in my arms_ **

who are you and what have you done w our best friend lee jeno 

_ ^^^ RE FUCKING TWEET _

Jeno rolled his eyes and locked his screen, already stressing over that future conversation. 

He couldn't do anything about the sunlight streaming through the shutter blinds, so he decided to address the third thing on his list. Mark looked so peaceful, his chest rose up gently, lips were slightly parted, his fanned out lashes began to flutter. 

"Jeno," his voice was croaky and muffled by his pillow "Why did you move?" he yawned

"Sorry hyung, my arm fell asleep." 

Mark slowly ripped one eye open and squinted at Jeno. "Whatever. Just move back here."

Jeno had forgotten how cranky Mark gets in the morning, he laughed under his breath before shuffling closer to Mark. 

"Okay grumpy pants." 

"What are you, 12?"

Mark clung on to Jeno's torso, and he cradled Mark's head. He ran his hand through Mark's bleached locks, surprised at how soft his hair was. Mark purred when Jeno dragged his nails across his scalp, so softly that Jeno almost missed it. 

"Hyung I'm meeting my friends later." 

"What time?" 

"Around lunch." 

Mark yawned and nuzzled his head against Jeno's side. "M'kay, five more minutes?" 

Jeno looped his other arm around Mark and placed a gentle kiss on his forehead. 

"You can have all the time in the world." 

**Author's Note:**

> to the prompter who submitted JZ0026 i hope this lived up to what you imagined! i feel like i ran so far away from ur idea but I hope u enjoyed regardless ;_;
> 
> and to everyone who read this, thank you! I hope you enjoyed too!  
> and biggest thank you to marcha for reading the first u6ly draft, and to mod milk for organising this fic fest!
> 
> see ya l8r  
> [twt](twitter.com/emojsung)


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